Sunday, December 18, 2011

Wow, this is a very nice touring bike off to Woodstock, NY.I love British Racing green. The silver items you see installed on the frame are S&S couplers, allowing the frame to be taken apart into two sections to allow for putting the bike into a travel case, eschewing airline baggage fees. Slick.

I worked yesterday and have to say that it did absolutely nothing in the way of making me any less ill. I am not good at taking it easy.I will have all my office duties all cleared up and already have most of my mitering done on my next two frames.

Friday, December 16, 2011

CP's frame all prepped - what a damn nice frame, and I really like the color! As you can see, it's mega-winter conditions here, and in keeping with the season I'm super sick - forced office day today as just working through it out in the shop is just not working out.I need an office day very badly anyway, as monthly taxes are due, the inbox is full of receipts that need filed - there are many hats to wear as an independent custom made-to-measure bike builder.

booty shot - niiiiice.............

DH's touring bike just showed from paint, I have not had time to prep it but once I do I'll post more detail shots of it, as I said I need to stay out of the shop today & get better.

I am not exposed to many people in my life as I live kind of far from town, don't see many people as I do not have a big peer group and mostly work all the time, especially in winter - so I think that makes me susceptible to germs & viruses.But, what a beautiful frameset! British Racing Green with S&S couplers, allowing it to be broken down into halves for travel - more when i get decals & a headbadge on it. Back to work tomorrow regardless of how I feel, I can't afford more then one day out of the shop. Damn work ethic.

almost done, but I forgot the centerloc/6-bolt adapters. Dang.

On the way........What a sweet ride, huh?

I dug up this old pic of me racing back in 1990.

Frame repair/disc brake modification.

I built this frame as the 92nd frame I sold, almost seven years ago. It needed a downtube replaced and while it was here got the canti mounts removed and a disc mount added. It's interesting to see how different my bikes are now from this era! They have come a long way to be what constitutes a "Coconino" now.

NO - I do not do frame repairs on anything i did not build - sorry!

Looks like JR really like to hit this part on rocks - now that your brake is here you may want to stop! There's four dents there - ?????

For what it's worth it was this kind of thing that lead to me creating my signature seat stays, I used to use Columbus seatstays (this whole bike was made from Zona) but it was way too "dent-y" whereas now my bikes are made largely from True Temper, 4130 & Dedacciai.

On the left is a finished fillet I did seven years ago, on the right is one I just did but did not file at all. How about that?

This was after 100 bikes, and I've built a few hundred since. There is no substitution for experience.

BR'sframeset on the left, JR's on the right.

I did not consider that my dummy couplers would be at paint because the bike on the left will be an S&S bike, and that kind of set me back, but there is always something to do!

Tight & right.

Untouched silver brazing on my seat tube 'lug" - check out how the silver follows the lateral striations from cleaning with emery paper - that's why you do it that way - the silver follows it into the sleeve as well.

BR's seat tube - a pretty small frame.

BR's fork, just needs canti mounts.

Fork crown detail.

I actually got out on a ride! It was cool!

In all of November I got out for two hours of exercise - TOTAL.

I did go paddle the Verde a few times, but that doesn't come close to the burn from off road handcycling - nothing does.

Conditions were absolutely stellar.

A Christmas Cholla - one of the biggest I've ever seen - usually they are small & hidden under trees. A really cool cactus.

Final checks on Douglas's & then it's off to paint to become British Racing Green.

Matching fork. Damn, touring bikes are a ton of work - I'm re-thinking the pricing structure on these rigs.

Polishing the stainless steel couplers. Nice work bench, huh?

DH's pile O' goods.

And, the beginning of Beth's very cool bike - not sure what to call it? BMX/MTB/Commuter/Travel bike. - Cool.

That's it for now - just checking in - BUSY. The touring bikes along with the eye injury, blowing out my back, my wife's 40th B-day and hosting the family thanksgiving sure too a toll on me the last month. Here's to things getting easier! Lots of snow so lots of work hours, and a surprising number of orders rolling in - thanks, All! - Steve.

SO, WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT, THEN?

Hi! my name is Steve Garro, and this blog is an ongoing chronical of the process of building the finest handmade bicycles I can here at Coconino Cycles, located in beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona.

I'm a one man operation, doing all the design and fabrication in house with my own hands. we have been operating full time since feburary 2003, producing about 20-25 frames a year, as well as handbuilt wheelsets and complete bike builds. every bike is totally custom fit to the needs and measurements of each rider and built from scratch with hand selected tubesets from several premium manufactuers including True Temper, Dedacciai and Kaisei. I pride myself on perfect fit, ride quality, and durability to provide you with the best cycling experence I can. to know more details, check out my web page, http://www.coconinocycles.com/

Please note that as of 1/14 I had a roughly one amd a half year backlog on orders. I have since stopped taking deposits to catch up on work until January 2015

When looking through my blog, you will also see alot of details of my life and pictures of things I like to do and stuff that I think is cool, like handcycling, fishing, boating, friends and family, critters, landscape, and flowers, with some wierd stuff thrown in for good measure. enjoy, and thanks for stopping by - Steve